i was beat like a stepchild .... and deserved it most of the time ... after a while it didn't feel like much ... haha ... i agree though, there is a difference between a whoopin and abuse ... i was never left with injuries or marks .. come to think of it, my parents were pretty good at it ... even today they wouldn't have had an issue with CAS ... LOL ... now marks and bruises? heh, i had three older brothers ... that is a whole different story ..

Our mom used her hand, the belt and the wooden spoon. She was never one to just hit us for every little thing we might have done, but when she told us something she expected to be minded. My mom's Italian and even though we never learned the language, there were certain words/phrases that we understood. If she was on the phone and we were making too much noise and she had to tell us to be quite more than twice, she would tell her friend in Italian "hold on a minute". When we heard that we knew what that meant and we would all scatter in different directions figuring she couldn't catch all of us. So whoever was slowest took one for the team.

My brother and I were spanked when we were kids and we always understood that we deserved it and my dad always made sure to explain what we had done wrong before the spanking (I think it helped him to keep from losing his temper - which he did occasionally, but mostly because of my brother's smart mouth ).

He actually kept a wooden rod right next to the front door in plain sight and he would use that to spank us with. Whenever we thought about doing something wrong, it was always there as a constant reminder of the consequences.

My mom used a flyswatter on our ankles. We knew we were in big trouble if she told us to sit down and roll up our pants legs. She was a teacher and knew that the flyswatter would hurt like a son of a gun but not leave any marks. She didn't want the other teachers thinking she was abusing us when we deserved a spanking. I remember only 2 spankings as a kid and I deserved it both times.

I spanked my kids when they were younger if they truly needed it but I used my bare hand on their bottoms. Now that they are older, they get things taken away and that hurts them way more than a spank. I have also been known to make them write a letter of apology to whomever they wronged and do that person's chores as reparation. They also hate that more than spanking.

my dad could bust a 2x4 with his finger thump. i sat in front of him at church with my cousins. if we talked or made the wrong move POW to the back of the ear. one time it was so loud the preacher stopped the service and called my dad out. told the congregation that everyone should follow his example and discipline their kids. teach them to respect the service.

one time i was walking out the door. he ask me to do something and i gave him the old WHATEVER with a good eye-roll. BADMOVE BAM! size 13 rocky to the back of the head.

my dad never did anything when he was mad and i was never abused. just taught right from wrong and respect. i never got a whipping for anything i didn't know better than to do in the first place.

my daughter is a bit of a class clown. i had to meet with her teacher. i told the teacher to paddle her and she would straighten up. they cant paddle any more. what a shame, but they have another use for the old wood paddle.

its called sanding wood. if a kid goes to the principal's office they have to write their name with a sharpie on the old paddle and then sand it off with fine grit sandpaper when they leave the office their to tired to act up any more. brilliant